


5 Times People Thought They Had a Chance

by uaigneach



Series: We Weren’t Meant to be Heroes [21]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: 5 Times, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Outsider, and other offensive content, cursing, dating shenanigans, jealous teenagers, just the typical for me, slight racist undertones in parts, some comments on potentailly offensive things, yeah there's racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-07-08 09:35:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15927719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uaigneach/pseuds/uaigneach
Summary: Adrien and Marinette are both major catches, and their fellow lycée students take notice of this and believe that they would be the best suited to be a potential partner. Marinette disagrees.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I’m not dead… and as always, I haven’t really gone all that in depth with editing but would it really be a story by me if it wasn’t only run through the Microsoft Word spell check.  
> (unrelated note but has anyone read How To Get Into Medical School by Vincent Lam? I’m thinking of writing something inspired by it for Voltron)
> 
> on that topic how would people feel about bringing Marinette's extended family for like a family reunion or something? I kinda want some OCs to react to the Adrienette of this universe and the situation in Paris. Maybe a Christmas special so I can write up some of the other prompts...

1.

André was a pretty simple guy as far as things went. He attended all his classes and never skipped out on a test. He liked playing football and hanging out with his friends, and the bac that he was aiming towards was the general baccalaureate. He was a hard worker and considered to be a good looking guy. He was sure that if he went to America he would get all the girls, but for now, he was content with the status of ‘hot stuff’ at his own school. He was used to the female attention even if he wasn’t considered to be the ultimate hotty and bad boy of the school. He was too clean cut to ever achieve bad boy status, so he was okay with handing over that crown.

Walking into the halls of his school, you would have thought that he owned the place. Every bit of him screamed ‘my dad is a lawyer’ American university student style. Basically, he dressed like an asshole fuck boi, so that was exciting. He was walking like a man on a mission – probably because he was on a mission.

You see, while he may be an older student at this particular lycée, he was aware when new students swarmed in at the start of the new year, there was a rather unique batch of students. You see, everyone knew about that one class from le Collège Françoise Dupont that was both the most attacked by akumas and those that are close to Paris’ two teenage heroes. It certainly made waves when the writer of the LadyBlog, Alya Césaire, was rumoured to be coming to their lycée.

However, it wasn’t the infamous reporter that drew André’s attention. That dubious honour was actually bestowed on the girl that was best friends with the reporter. Like Césaire, Marinette Dupain-Cheng can be considered ‘exotic’ seeing as she’s at least half Asian. André wasn’t quite sure what kind of Asian, but with a last name like Cheng, it was obvious. However, despite her heritage, the short girl had the most beautiful bluebell eyes and quite the alluring smile. Add on the fact that she was just adorable most of the time, it was no wonder that he was utterly smitten.

The only problem was that Marinette was quite popular and had many friends that she was almost constantly surrounded by. And when she wasn’t with her friends, she just sort of disappeared. It was hard to track her down and he had yet to actually speak to the girl. After talking to his friends, it didn’t seem to be a new phenomenon. No one really spoke to the pretty bluenette in pigtails save for the former Collège Françoise Dupont students. It was kind of frustrating.

And that’s why he had come to school early today in hopes that he’d be able to catch the elusive bluenette before she rushed off to her first class with her friends. Luckily for André, it seemed that today was one of the few days that today was one of the few days that Marinette was actually on time. He had just turned the corner when he caught sight of the short Asian girl pulling some textbooks out of her locker and laughing loudly with two other students.

One was obviously Alya Césaire, her large red hair and darker skin tone making it obvious. The other appeared to be Nino Lahiffe, characterized by his baseball cap and the large headphones hanging around his neck. He had been friends with the two girls for years and it was a well-known fact that he and Césaire had been going steady for years. That means that he wasn’t a threat and André had no need to be jealous or worried.

He took a moment to compose himself before moving to stride confidently towards the trio. However, he was stopped in his tracks when a fourth person approached them first. He was tall with styled blond hair and dressed in what looked like designer clothing. He wore a high-end bag and had a notebook loosely clutched in one arm. He had his other arm raised in front of his face, apparently checking the time, but that position provided the optimal reflection of the light so that everyone could see that he was wearing a luxury brand.

The teen was basically showing off his wealth like an asshole. Now André wasn’t poor, but he was more middle class than anything. He liked his brand names as much as the next guy, but in his opinion, the blond was taking it much further than he should’ve. He was even wearing a wide band ring on his middle finger. Like, what kind of asshole?

Of course, just as he was rearing up to continue mentally trashing this blond preppy, he turned around to lean against the locker beside Marinette’s and looked down at her. This, allowed André to see his entire face and make the connection that holy shit – that’s Adrien Agreste.

There had been rumours that the Agreste heir was attending a public school, but not many had believed it because the Agreste heir’s presence wasn’t noticed during the infamous akuma attacks at the college he supposedly went to. His social media were private, and he never showed up in any of the news reports both on a professional media outlet and the LadyBlog. Adrien Agreste was surprisingly rather unknown.

André had beef with Agrest on the simple principle that Agreste was ‘supposedly’ the same kind of good guy as André, except girls liked Agreste better because he was a model. He was willing to be that Agreste had a shit personality though. That made him angry because based on body language, Agreste was putting the moves on Marinette.

And… was it working?!

He froze. There stood Marinette Dupain-Cheng, one of the most beautiful, sophisticated, and delicate looking girls he’d ever seen, blushing and fluttering her eyelashes at the blond model. Her friends weren’t even reacting like it was all that unusual! In fact, they were joking and laughing along, going so far as to even poke fun at the small Asian girl. Unbelievable.

He was inexplicably filled with rage at the sight of the other teen wrapping his arm around Marinette’s shoulders (not even her waist! Just her shoulders) and recognizing that that was a bit illogical, he quickly turned and fled.

 

* * *

 

The next time that André was lucky enough to encounter Agreste (and Marinette… and Césaire and Lahiffe) was at lunch that day. The quartet just happened to sit at the table right next to the table that André and his clique sat at. It was complete coincidence too! André was just minding his own business and chatting with his friends when a gaggle of former Collège Françoise Dupont students congregated at a table… loudly. Bags were thrown on the ground and trays clattered against the table tops as they sat down around their circular table.

Somehow, the Françoise Dupont students had managed to become one of the school’s most popular cliques despite being new – which wasn’t really all that surprising if you think about it. They were famous for being the most frequently attacked by akumas and known for being friends with Paris’ superhero duo. Then you have to take it into consideration just _who_ the students were. Not only was the creator of the LadyBlog a prominent member, but also the mayor’s daughter Chloe Bourgeois and the world-class model Adrien Agreste. The others weren’t as famous, but they too could be considered important or influential.

Chloe Bourgeois alone would be enough for the whole cafeteria to stop and look, or at the very least notice her arrival. But with everyone else, there wasn’t a single person _not_ looking with extreme interest.

Agreste also happened to have Marinette cuddled into his side and under his arm. That fact was far from unnoticed by everyone.

“Ugh! Couples are so gross when they’re in the honeymoon phase.” One of his friends grumbled before taking a giant bite from their sandwich.

“Who? Césaire and Lahiffe?” another person asked in confusion. It was Gregory and Gregory wasn’t exactly known for being observant. Nice enough guy but when it came to people he was very dense. It annoyed André sometimes.

“Nah man, they’re the cool couple.” The first person disagreed. “I’m talking about Agreste and Dupain-Cheng.”

 _That_ caught André’s attention. “Wait, what? Agreste is dating who?!”

His friend didn’t quite seem to get why he was distressed by this information and simply seemed to believe that his tone was caused by disbelief instead and proceeded to try and explain. “I know, right? Who would’ve thought that Agreste would go for the literal baker’s daughter? Talk about a downgrade.”

André frowned. “Really? I would think that Marinette can do better. Sure she’s a baker’s daughter but that baker is the owner of the most famous bakery on this side of the Seine. Sure Agreste is a model, but he’s probably just some douchebag that’s into her because she’s exotic.” He grumbled bitterly, getting looks from his friends.

“Dude, that’s like, racist,” Gregory said slowly, tipping his chin down and looking up at him. “Also, you speak like you’d be better for her? Dude, you’re like 2 years older than her and you’ve never even said a word to her.”

André scowled darkly and glowered at the table of people of people beside them. Agreste had a shiny green apple clutched in the hand not wearing a watch (seeing as that one was still securely wrapped around Marinette’s shoulders) and there was a perfectly round bit mark out of the side. Of course, he was eating an apple – all douchebags eat apples, everyone knows that.

He must’ve been burning a whole in the side of Agreste’s head for maybe 30 seconds before Agreste and Marinette’s eyes both flickered over to look at him. As one, the duo’s eyes met his, and he felt ice trickled down his spine. The blue eyes that he had previously thought to be angelic and soft were now as frigid as glaciers. Her eyes were sharp and calculating, completely opposite to her still smiling face. Although with her eyes, that smile was more predatory than inviting.

He shifted away from her almost subconsciously to see an almost mirror image in Agreste’s face. Well no, mirror image would be incorrect. While he was also smiling, it was nothing like Marinette’s smile or even his own model smile. This smile was all teeth and filled with mischief. His eyes weren’t cold and calculating but instead filled with dark glee and anticipation.

André didn’t know which one was worse.

All the same, he swallowed the spit in his mouth and answered his friend. “Yeah, I do think that I’d be better. I’d treat her like a lady and not just arm candy. Agreste doesn’t deserve her.” And that’s the moment that he knew that he fucked up.

In a flash, Marinette shook off Agreste’s arm and grabbed her bag before storming off, closely followed by Césaire, Everyone else at the table had continued like it was normal, although Agreste kept checking his phone and trying to act discretely.

It was all so painfully normal. No one else reacted – the moment went completely unnoticed by all but the three of them (and Césaire).

 

“Dude… that’s messed up, man.”

He was jerked out of his reverie by his friends continuing to talk to him. “No shit,” he said in a daze.

“You _fucked_ up!” the guy next to him crowed, pointing at the obvious absence of Marinette. “She totally heard you, man! You _fucked up._ ” He let out another loud laugh before doubling over in his seat. “Anyone who’s anyone knows that they’ve been dancing around each other for years! Agreste treats her like a queen and now that Dupain-Cheng’s finally sunk her claws into him. They’re like, a power couple. You have _no_ chance.”

“I heard that he took her to his father’s last fashion show because she’s a designer and then they walked the runway in her design.” The girl from behind him spoke, forcing him to look over his shoulder to see a group of students had been eavesdropping on their conversation. “Like even if she was with him only for his connections, then there’s no way any self-respecting businesswoman in a cut throat business would latch on and never let go. She’s not leaving him.”

“Oh do you think she’ll take over the Agreste brand along with Adrien when Monsieur Agreste retires?” her friend gushes. “She’s so lucky.”

André clenched his fist so hard he bent the fork he was holding. Deciding that he didn’t want to deal with that anymore, he decided to follow Marinette’s example and stormed out of the cafeteria, leaving his food abandoned on the table.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in other news I'm nearly three weeks behind in updating my other fics, writing two new long term fics, and dying from math

2.

Marie had a problem.

It wasn’t all that out of the ordinary, just your typical teenage girl issues. You see, Marie wasn’t exactly all that popular. It wasn’t like she was unpopular or anything, she just wasn’t one of those girls that every guy wanted to be with and every girl wanted to be. She was pretty enough to get away with only wearing mascara and she wore cute outfits. She was average; and that was the problem.

She wasn’t anything special, and now that she had a crush on a boy, that was a problem. The worst part is that it wasn’t ever her only problem!

The boy she was crushing on was something amazing and almost certainly out of her league. He was a world-famous model with the Agreste brand (a company to which he was the heir!!!) and he was smokin’ hot to boot. His fame didn’t stop there though, because rumour has it that he even went to Collège Françoise Dupont and was part of _that_ class. There was no hard proof besides the official roster on the LadyBlog–

(which to be fair was pretty legit. Alya Césaire, the creator and main mod for the official LadyBlog website was the one who wrote and pinned the post about the list of college students who were the originals in youth standing beside their heroes.)

–because in every other news story, including the actual LadyBlog articles, the name Adrien Agreste was rarely mentioned. The most that would be said about him was that he was there. No details like for any of the other students whose names were generally well known. Perhaps it was a PR issue with the actual Agreste brand, but even pictures of the events didn’t have any trace of the Agreste heir. Well, not mentioned by name, but those who knew when to look were lucky enough to catch glimpses of him helping but it was rare and the only known ones were on the LadyBlog. It was rather perplexing, but perhaps he was just good at hiding?

Whatever, te point is that Adrien was both well known, and a complete mystery. He was unbelievably hot and kind to boot – what girl In her right mind wouldn’t want that?

You may be wondering how exactly she knows he’s kind if she doesn’t really know all that much about him. Well that’s because she has 3 whole classes with him! In one class she sits across the class form him, but in the other two classes she sits no more than a desk away from her! One time she’d forgotten a pen and without even thinking about ithe offered her one of his pens. He didn’t even know who she was, he just gave her the pen (and it was a _nice_ pen) and told her to keep it! Like it was nothing.

He holds the door open for people and has impeccable manners. He’s soft spoken, incredibly intelligent (he tutored people up until the library was swarmed with fangirls), and always willing to help. He’s the kind of guy that all ‘nice guys’ seem to think they are. He’s unreal and perfect. Of _course_ Marie has a huge hopeless crush on him.

Well, she _thought_ it was hopeless sup until one day she overheard one of his conversations with another classmate (not a former Françoise Dupont student, but a group of guys that went to her college).

“So Agreste, are you interested in any girls right now?”

She can’t really see all that much of Adrien from the angle she was at, but if she slouches a bit more in her seat, then she can see his face. He had this dreamy smile on his face as he dramatically looked off into the distance. He looked love struck.

“Yes, I am. She has the most beautiful blue eyes, and from the moment I bumped into her, I knew I could grow to love her.”

She shouldn’t be getting so excited jut from the mention of blue eyes but _she_ had blue eyes! She’d also quite literally bumped into him on the first day. She’d fallen and dropped all of her books. He’d taken time out of his day to help her pick them up too. His smile… she could swoon.

“Mari isn’t just beautiful though, she’s also smart and gentle–”

He was cut off by the bell then, but that was basically all that she needed to hear to be throw for a loop. He said ‘Marie’! There can’t be that many Maries at this school and an even smaller number of Maries with blue eyes. She just might be the one that he has a massive crush on! Holy shit!

For the rest of the day she was on cl0oud nine and walking around in a daze. She couldn’t believe that she might have a chance with this amazing guy. It took her a while, but over the course of the day she managed to work up some courage.

She was going to do it. She was going to walk up to Adrien Agreste and tell him that she had a crush on him. And if everything went correctly, he would humbly accept her confession and proceed to share his own reciprocal feelings. What would follow would be a sweet YA novel level romance with cute but expensive dates. It would be a romance for the ages, she could just see it now.

 

By the end of the day, she was walking with a bounce in her steps and a game plan. Everyone knew that the college Françoise Dupont kids gathered at the front steps of the school before all heading over to the Dupain-Cheng bakery together, so Marie would have a narrow window of time to approach her cursh before there were too many people and they left. However if things went well she would just tag along and those few short moments would be enough.

She made it all the way outside of the school and to the base of the steps before she lost her nerve and froze. Thinking quietly on her feet, she pretended to be waiting for a ride while she was really just watching the college students. Everyone seemed to be  there but Adrien and she was not ready for that situation. She could clearly recognize the bright red hair of Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Sabrina Raincomprix standing next to Chloe Bourgeois and then the trio of striking figures beside them. The big hair and dark skin on the girl and the headphones and hat on the boy characterized them as Alya Césaire and Nino Lahiffe. However it was the girl next to them that seemed to simultaneously be overlooked and draw everyone’s attention like gravity.

She wore casual but very unique and fashionable clothing in black and baby pink. The colours suited her hair which was a startling navy blue and held in two low pigtails. Marie secretly thought that they looked rather childish, but they were the signature look of Ladybug, so a lot of girls were beginning to wear that hairstyle. To Marie it was unoriginal and tacky. Marie’s opinion on this girl continues to drop.

She occasionally showed up in some of the LadyBlog posts, but those were usually pictures of her at fundraisers for akuma damage. She was the Dupain-Cheng girl. Her parents helped run one of the fundraisers organized by the LadyBlog. However, in the moment she’d never been involved in the evacuation of people. She just disappeared whenever there was an akuma attack.

 

She was facing away from Marie, so she couldn’t see the bluenette’s face, but Marie could already feel the irrational dislike growing in her stomach. It may be fewer and for between, but Adrien was also photographed at those functions. The glimpses of his signature design outfits and a bits of blond hair usually appeared beside the bluenette. There was only one clear picture of the two of them, and it wasn’t anything incriminating or anything, but she hated to look at it. It was irrational and rooted completely In jealousy, but that didn’t mean that the feelings weren’t there.

She was slowly working herself into quite the fuss when like being called by a stage cue, Adrien appeared at the top of the staircase. It was like a scene from a Disney princess movie. He made a beeline for the group of 6 standing at the front of the small mob of former Françoise Dupont students and proceeded to scoop the Dupain-Cheng girl into his arms bridal style. He made sure to keep her skirt under her so that when he spun her around she didn’t accidentally flash someone.

“Mari!” he yelled cheerfully, peppering her face with kisses as he set her back on the ground. “I missed you!”

From this angle, Marie could clearly see Marinette’s perfect blue eyes and bright smile. Her name was Marinette… Mari was a nickname. Mari, not Marie.

Oh.

 

“You goober! I had class with you just after lunch!” The girl that Adrien loved said, rolling her eyes and punching his shoulder. “Come on, let’s go, mon chaton. Maman and papa are expecting us.” She turned to leave, and Adrien followed after with a dopey grin on his face.

Marie stormed off, her inside filling with rage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I changed my tumblr url because reasons, so if you want to drop a suggestion or a request and don't want to put it in a comment (it could be an unrelated fandom too!) then drop by!
> 
> @neamhni-keykiyoshi7443
> 
> <https://www.tumblr.com/blog/neamhni-keykiyoshi7443>


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I used google translate I'm sorry
> 
> Also disclaimer: this can be seen as pretty offensive because admittedly it is rather stereotypical. So I’ll have an advanced apology now if you get offended by what is written here. It was not the intent but it is totally understandable! Feel free to abstain from reading this chapter if you want.

3.

As far as lives could go, Chen would like to consider his own rather exciting. Sure not all that much had happened to him in his short life, but it was exciting nonetheless.

He had recently moved to France after his dad managed to get transferred. Chen had grown up in China so the customs and school system in France were still a wee bit confusing. All the same, he liked France well enough. It was very different, but still, very interesting. Chen was also not ashamed to admit that the people were also pretty great even if they couldn’t understand him all the time.

In his year, there wasn’t any other immigrants, international students, or even French as a second language students. His school did its best to be accommodating, but they didn’t exactly have trained professionals. He was lucky though, that some students did speak Chinese. So far, he’d met 5 people that could speak his language. They were all of Chinese descent and spoke well, even if sometimes they were a little bit stiff. Their parents had clearly done their best to teach their children about Chinese culture. He didn’t mind those students that weren’t fluent because at least they were people around his age that he could communicate with.

However, there _was_ one girl that was noticeably better than the others. Her Chinese wasn’t perfect, but she could be considered fluent enough. Her name was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and she was honestly amazing.

He had her in his French class and she was surprisingly smart! She was also kind and completely willing to help him out with his grammar (why are there 3 different future tenses?? Why is there a tense that you only learn in writing?!?). He had been a little disappointed to find out that her career path lead towards fashion design – surely her Chinese parent was disappointed, she was dishonouring the family name – seeing out as she could have gone into much more worthwhile pursuits like being a doctor or even a nurse. She had the right temperament for a job like that and she was Asian, so she was doubt smarter than what he’d seen. She’s a hard worker too.

All the same, he was sure that he could talk her into a more worthwhile career. Perhaps a business owner instead of a designer. Supposedly she’d shown interest in running the Agreste company. As it was he stood to inherit his mother’s business so perhaps Marinette would help him with that. He was a far superior potential life partner than the Agreste boy anyways. Sure the Agreste boy might have money, but Marinette’s parents would no doubt agree that he is still the superior candidate.

Since he’d started primary school, he’d known he was going to be a doctor. It wasn’t like his parents told him that that was how it’s going to be or even forced him into anything. He just knew that he was destined to move to America (surely France was only a pitstop on the way to the immigrant hell of the United States) and if he was going to be happy there, he would need to make a lot of money. In America that translated into becoming a doctor, a lawyer, or even an engineer.

Studying law would be pointless because he would only learn about the French legal system. Engineering was decently universal and might have some merit if Chen was any good at design. He simply didn’t have the brain for it – no amount of studying can make up for a lack of innovative imagination. Chen didn’t mind so much. He just wanted to be successful, and you don’t _have_ to be creative to do _that_. So that just leaves doctor. Chen was naturally gifted in biology and chemistry came with little effort. As always, he was brilliant at math, so Chen supposes he might eventually minor in business or accounting as a backup. At the very least he would need some financial know-how if he wanted to be successful.

How can you possibly keep and grow your money if you don’t have any financial know-how?

Agreste may be rich and conventionally handsome, but in the real world, he would be utterly useless. He was no doubt completely spoiled and he’d lose his good looks with age. An inheritance was only as good as long as it lasted. Fashion wasn’t going to be a thing forever, and Agreste’s fame would surely last even less time. Once the money ran out (have you seen Agreste’s clothing? He must spend a fortune every day) he would be left with nothing. Marinette might think that she loves him now, but in 5, 10 years? No way. She would live to regret it.

Marinette was a great girl. You understand that he couldn’t let her be wasted on the likes of Agreste.

Marinette would like America.

 

Most of this was him simply pondering his thoughts on the subject of the beautiful Asian girl. He hadn’t exactly had a plan to act on these thoughts until first becoming friends with Marinette, but he’d obviously greatly overestimated his ability in keeping silent because of course something went down as soon as the opportunity arose.

Poor Marinette just seemed to draw in bad luck, didn’t she.

 

It started when he partnered with Sabrina Raincomprix on a biology lab. In theory perfectly normal. Sabrina was surprisingly smart, and her quiet demeanor was pleasant to work around. Nevertheless, the lab would drag on seeing as the bell rang for lunch just as they finished the actual lab. They’d done nothing for the report save write down their observations. As such, in order to preserve their memories of what was no hastily written down, Chen decided that the logical next step would be for them to continue their work during lunch. If they timed it correctly, they might not have to finish at home.

Because Sabrina was apparently a well-trained doormat (and Chen himself being so demanding with his presence alone) she graciously invited Chen to eat with her and her friends. Thinking nothing of it, he agreed as long as work was sure to be done. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if he had to take the lab home, but he was already behind in studying for the math test next week.

Of course, walking into the cafeteria with Sabrina brought to his attention just what he was getting himself into. In hindsight, he should have known that Sabrina was one of them. She was Chloe Bourgeois’ best friend. How could he forget.

He quickly took a seat beside the ginger and pulled out his notes to begin working immediately. It was clear that his presence was unwanted, even if none of them spoke up about it.

Well other than Chloe but she didn’t like anyone, so Chen didn’t make an issue about it.

 

The first half of the lunch went well. Sabrina focused heavily on her work and easily finished her part of the lab report. She then turned to talk with the Mayor’s daughter and Chen assumed their business was complete. He had taken a little more work than Sabrina, so he still had about half a page to write. Nothing too significant and surely he could finish it during the lunch period, but it wouldn’t be polite for him to stay. It wouldn’t exactly be all that comfortable either, sitting as a silent outsider. His lack of outgoing nature and ability in French also provided a barrier for conversation.

He had resolved to bite the bullet and was preparing to complete his work at home when someone other than Sabrina spoke to him. “Chen, was it? So how are you doing in your classes? Mari insists that it’s no different than collège, but I think it’s better.”

Chen’s head flipped to the side to see that it was none other than Agreste that had deigned to speak to him. How quaint. “It is very different from China.” He settled on saying. He focused his gaze on Agreste as the Frenchman beamed. Marinette was tucked under his arm and had a sketchbook sitting on her lap. She wasn’t paying attention to the conversation, however instead of the relaxed look that one would expect, she was stiff and at attention, like she was waiting for something to happen.

“Ha! Classes are still super tough though!” Agreste grinned, his arm tightening around her shoulders a bit more. Chen bristled. He shouldn’t be touching her.

“Nǐ yīnggāi bǐ zhège fàguó ègùn gèng hǎo. Nǐ de fùmǔ yīdìng bù gāoxìng.” _You deserve better than this French scoundrel. Your parents must be displeased._ He spoke suddenly, making eye contact with Marinette. Understand that he didn’t have any intention of speaking to her, but after hearing the blatant remarks made by Agreste and seeing Marinette’s unease, he couldn’t just not say something. He spoke in Chinese, safe in his assumption that no one else but Marinette could speak Chinese. She wasn’t the best, but she’d understand enough. “Nǐ nìngyuàn zhǎo yīgè néng lǐjiě nǐ de rén ma? Yǒurén cōngmíng ma?” _Wouldn’t you rather have someone who can understand you? Someone smarter?_ he continued.

Marinette’s eyes flickered up from her sketchbook to meet his eyes. There was a small bit of confusion there, and Chen could see that it was taking her a moment to figure out what he’d said. Chen was content to give her time.

“Shíjì shang, wǒ hěn cōngmíng. Wǒ lǐjiě mǎlǐ hěn hǎo,” _Actually I’m quite smart. I understand Mari just fine._ Agreste said, his voice cool and unaffected as he shocked Chen effortlessly. “Oh, and did I mention that I speak Chinese fluently?” he finished, switching from nearly perfect Mandarin to French in an instant.

Chen felt the blood drain from his face.

“what happened?” a voice asked abruptly from beside Chen. He whirled around to see Nino Laghiffe peering at them curiously. “What did he say?”

Agreste sneered. “He told Marinette her parents would be disappointed in her for picking a ‘French scoundrel’ as a partner.” Lahiffe immediately bristled, puffing out his chest like an angry bird.

Chen paled even more.

There was a second of silence before Lahiffe exploded. “What?! I’ll have you know that Adrien is one of the smartest people I know! He can speak 3 languages and is a music and physics genius!” The dark-skinned teen was fuming and Chen found himself feeling almost threatened by the slightly larger teen’s ferocity. “And Marinette’s parents love Adrien! They think they’re absolutely wonderful together. They know that he’d protect her with his life–”

“That’s enough, Nino.”

Lahiffe sat back down in his seat.

“Chen was just about to leave. He’s about to be late for a meeting. Chess club, right?” Agreste continued coolly as Marinette pointedly looked away from him. Chen bit his tongue before standing up stiffly and inclining his head.

“Of course,” he bit out. “I’ll have my part of the report done for tomorrow. I’ll print it off.” He said, directing that comment towards Sabrina before gathering his things and walking with calm, measured steps out of the cafeteria.

It was Marinette’s loss. She couldn’t even fight her own battles. He doesn’t know what he saw in her.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also remember that my tumblr changed! It's @neamhni-keykiyoshi7443 because I have a pseud that I write under on this site too so if you like Voltron or if you're interested in any new stories that aren't part of a pre-existing series then please drop by.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi M if you're here pls stop reading now
> 
> if you're not M, then I'm sorry for the long absence! I was struggling to get my life together and as you can probably guess from the chapter, I'm doing a poor job

4.

She’d only met him 3 times in person, but she was in love with him.

It sounds kind of stupid, and like she was fickle and shallow, but it was also true. She had this tendency to fall hard and fast for someone. It wasn’t healthy, but her crushes always ended up lasting for years (albeit with some overlap). She also had a tendency to fall for people that could never possibly like her back. Coincidentally, these people were also ones that made her feel like absolute shit about herself.

We’ll start with the first person that Emma had a crush on; James Burnham. She had been 8 years old when It happened, and that crush lasted about 3 years. It was her only happy crush even though it didn’t last. James had had a crush on her and everyone knew it. This was unprecedented for Emma – she was plain and all the boys had always crushed on the other prettier and louder girls – so she chose to befriend him. It wasn’t like either of them had that many friends. What followed for the next 3 years was possibly the sweetest primary school romance that Emma had ever heard of. They were best friends and spent all of their free time together. He got her little gifts – she kept a necklace and a handmade dream catcher in a shoe box under her bed – and she went to his football games.

They were happy. And then his family moved from Paris to Nice because of his father’s job. They wrote letters for maybe a year before they lost contact. He follows her on Instagram – they haven’t spoken since they were 11.

And that was the last of her happy endings.

 

The next name in her list of heartbreaks is Mark Wang. He was a sweet boy. He grew up without many friends but then they had mutual friends, so when she was 12 they ate together. She developed that crush rather fast and did everything she could to be more desirable. She studied super hard and learned how to do her eyeliner to make her eyes look bigger. She knew he secretly liked to sing so she roped him into singing a duet with her at the benefit concert that their school was doing. The event drew about 1000 people and she grinned triumphantly at the crowd as she sang the last notes of _I see the Light_ from _Tangled,_ all the while holding his hand in her own.

That summer break she texted him about how she felt about him. He was in China visiting family and turned her down while simultaneously complaining about his phone bill.

 

She likes to think that she learned from that previous experience, but in reality she didn’t apply that learning.

Her next crush was on Raoul Busch. In her free time, she was part of a local youth orchestra and he was the marimba player. They almost never talked, but they were both in percussion, so they were ‘friends.’ She liked him from afar – never really knowing him at all – and the farthest she got was sitting beside him on a band trip.

After that she was hit pretty hard by a bisexual awakening. It was another person in orchestra and she was also in percussion. She had joined at the same time that Emma had, but Shyla Reese had become friends with Raoul easily where Emma had failed. At first, she had just thought that she was jealous, and then she though she admired Shyla, but once she got over the denial, she realized that she wanted to cuddle and kiss her. Mind you, at this time she was 13 and still had a half-crush on Raoul.

And then Raoul and Shyla started dating and it was all downhill from there.

 

Now we arrive in lycée where her ill-begotten crushes continued.

 

The first was a girl from her physical education class and she was interested in going into professional theatre. Unlike the others, this crush took many months to develop and it kind of snuck up on her. Before she even knew it, she was hanging out with her at every single lunch and going to all of her community theatre shows. This crush was kind of a turning point though in the way that she realized her pattern. No – it wasn’t that she only falls for artistic people. It was that she always crushed on people she deemed better than herself. Another issue was just this particular girl. She was very headstrong and set in her opinions. You simply couldn’t disagree with her. If you did, you were wrong, and then she just moved on. She also just made Emma feel like shit for even opening her mouth lest she say anything wrong out of ignorance.

Still, the crush lasted 2 years and she kind of loved her. It took Emma a long time to realize that that relationship, should it happen, would turn abusive _so_ fast. She doesn’t eat with her anymore.

 

In the small interim between getting over Her and her current predicament, she’d briefly regained some confidence and had a 3-day crush on a guy. His name was Eric Raoux and he was that guy who idolized James Bond and joked with teachers about getting the girl. Not exactly the catch that she usually crushes on, but he was smart, not unattractive, and he was even funny. The best part was that he was desperate for a girl. So there was no way he would turn her down, right?

Wrong.

She had texted him to ask if he wanted to get frozen yogurt to get to know each other better and all she’d gotten in response was a flat “no” like no punctuation or anything! At the very least he had never brought it up, but it had sent Emma into a tailspin back into her unhealthy fixation on Her.

 

Now though, her predicament might actually be worse. This time it seemed like she actually had a chance.

It all started when she went t one of her friend’s Halloween parties. Alya Césaire was easy to like and made friends fast. At that Halloween party she’d been introduced to Nino Lahiffe – Césaire’s boyfriend – and more importantly his best friend; Adrien Agreste. Adrien was a complete and utter sweetie with manners to match. It was no surprise that she’d caught feelings. He’d been so kind to her, flashing smiles the entire night. While she was waiting for her ride to come, he’d kept her company and they’d talked quietly for a good half an hour about life.

As soon as she’d arrived at home, she’d messaged her friends to gush about a cute boy and enquire if any of them knew if he was single. One of her friends claimed that she’d heard a rumour somewhere that he actually wasn’t, so Emma had resigned herself to trying her best to not get attached. Of course, it was like the universe was conspiring against her because from that moment on she just kept running into him.

…And by that she meant that she’d seen him exactly 2 more times. Once was at a bake sale where they’d barely spoken and the next was at a school spirit assembly. They’d sat next to each other and whispered snarky comments to each other under their breaths. It had been wonderful, but she was determined to not fall for him. It was just… he was the first person that didn’t make her feel like shit about herself when they talked. His presence was addicting.

She’d though that would be the end of it up until she’d been stuck going to one of Her musical theatre productions. Alya had agreed to go with her but had bailed at the last minute leaving her to go alone.

She sat third row from the front. No one else sat in her row and it took everything in her not to cry. It was stupid – especially with all the emotional imbalance being linked to akuma attacks – but she’d then shade posted about ti on her finsta; taking a picture of the stage set and captioning it “I just want someone to go to shows with me and cuddle,” because she was just tired of being alone. She hadn’t expected anyone to respond with anything past “same” or “me.” But sure enough, there in her DMs was a message.

A message from Adrien saying, “loneliness is a terrible thing.”

What followed was a 4 ½ hour long conversation with him either responding instantly or within 5 minutes. Emma hated texting, so this was unprecedented for her and she didn’t know how to handle any of it. They talked about deep things like the future and the hurts of the past and with every message she felt herself falling harder and more and more out of control.

He’d called her wonderful. No one had ever called her wonderful before.

 

And so, in a panic, she’d turned to her two friends Shar and Alex for advice on what to do. She had fallen for him and didn’t know where she could go from here.

Shar and Alex both fed into her fantasies, claiming he was totally flirting with her. For once, she was genuinely excited about a crush. So of course, they began planning.

First, she’d need to start messaging him more and then slip into the conversation that she was going Christmas shopping and needed someone to go with her. Shar insisted that she fit “I trust your judgement” in there somewhere. She had been a little nervous about actually going through wit it, but she was genuinely excited. It seemed like she actually had a chance for once. So she took her chance to shoot her shot and for once, it actually did work out. It took a bit of coercing – he argued that he wasn’t very good at giving advice – and she’d ended up caving and admitting that she just didn’t want to go in alone and that he was the first person she though of. He was then much more receptive.

Of course, just when things were looking up for her, they started to go downhill again.

Adrien had messaged her the night before asking her to eat lunch with him. Well he’d actually just said “sit with us at lunch tomorrow” but the meaning is basically the same. She was giddy – he wanted her to hang out with his friends! That was a good sign.

He was supposed to meet her outside the cafeteria, but she got there early and just went in. Alya flagged her down and she flopped into a seat with a sigh, immediately starting a conversation with the reporter and her boyfriend. She noticed when he came and sat beside Nino of course, but she made a point of not looking right at him lest she look desperate. She didn’t look until 5 minutes later when a small Asian girl with striking blue eyes came and sat beside Adrien. Almost subconsciously, his body angled towards hers as they both pulled out homework and began whispering to each other.

She tried not to feel too down hearted at that – maybe they were just good friends – but her heart seized at how close they looked to each other. Unbeholden to her, a seed of jealousy implanted itself in her heart. This wouldn’t be cause for concern in any other city but this was Paris so any kind of emotional upheaval could result in mass destruction.

She managed these emotions by going home and sobbing silently in her dark room for hours. Not the best response, but healthier than alternatives so she patted herself on the back for that. In a fit of loneliness, she decided to update her friends on the current state of her predicament.

 

>  
> 
> _9:50 P.M._
> 
> Em:
> 
> so I’ve run into an issue. I think I’ll just give up. There might be another girl in the picture and today at lunch I saw them together and they looked really close
> 
> _9:51 P.M._
> 
> Shar:
> 
> Wait what
> 
> I though you said no one else was in the picture
> 
> Em:
> 
> He never mentioned her before!
> 
> Still, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a thing with her
> 
> Alya also joked with me and claimed Adrien thought I was asking him out
> 
> _9:54 P.M._
> 
> Alex:
> 
> If he though you were trying to ask him out and said yes, that’s a good thing is it not?
> 
> _9:55 P.M._
> 
> Em:
> 
> Maybe he’s just being nice
> 
> And him and the other girl just gravitated to each other so idk
> 
> I’ll stil go shopping but i think I’ll just speed up the time line and clarify. “I like you and I’m interested in being more than friends with you but I won’t step on any toes so if you tell me right now that you only want to be friends I will firmly place myself in the friendzone and nothing will change” kind of thing
> 
> _9:58 P.M._
> 
> Alex:
> 
> It’s not a lost cause yet don’t stop now. Your idea seems good to me and at this point you’ve got nothing to lose. Make sure you say that to him when you’re together
> 
> _10:03 P.M._
> 
> should have told me this earlier today we could have talked in person
> 
> _10:11 P.M._
> 
> Em:
> 
> Alya was giving me a side eye. I’m pretty sure it’s a lost cause past friendship.
> 
> Shar:
> 
> K but I still think you have a chance
> 
> don’t decide anything for sure until u tell adrien how u feel
> 
> _10:13 P.M._
> 
> Em:
> 
> ugh so this wednesday will essentially be d-day then. It will either end well or end this crusade entirely. Fuck.
> 
> _10:14 P.M._
> 
> Shar:
> 
> At least ull get to know
> 
> Plus my offer on ice cream n movies n whatever else u wanna do still stands

 

She shut off her phone and buried herself deep into her mountain of blankets. She didn’t really want to go to school the next day – her eyes were going to be all red and puffy so that sucks – but she had 2 tests so she kind of had to. It is what it is.

 

* * *

 

Luckily for her, she was able to avoid meeting up with either Adrien or her two friends until Wednesday when she was supposed to be walking to the mall with Adrien.

Surprisingly, everything went okay… for the first hour. They wandered around all of the little shops and she actually managed to find what she was looking for. They had just stopped by the cafeteria to grab some hot chocolate when Emma decided to shoot her shot.

“Hey Adrien?” she began, shifting from foot to foot nervously. “I’m sure you’ve probably guess by now, but I uhh…. had some ulterior motives when asking you to come with me today. I like you… as more than just friends and I was wondering if you’d like to go on a date with me?” even before he responded she knew it wasn’t going to work. He was a model and he hadn’t even known her for a month.

His face scrunched up into a look of guilt as he glanced downwards and scratched the back of his head. “You’re a really nice girl, Emma. It’s just… I have a girlfriend. I’m sorry.”

She glanced down, letting her bands cover her eyes and feeling almost as if she’d been struck by Adrien’s words. She’d accepted this as a possibility, but it hadn’t really sunk in yet.

She opened her mouth to respond when suddenly a boom and screams interrupter her. Adrien’s head snapped up and towards the sound, his eyes hardened. “Akuma,” he hissed before suddenly grabbing her and shoving her forward. “Run! Get out of here!” he yelled before dashing off and out of view, leaving Emma alone as people began to rush past her in a panic. Despite all the chaos all she could think about how she had failed.

Again.

Just another name to add to the list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave them in the comment section below! I love hearing from all of you!
> 
> And uhh, as you can probably tell this chapter was a bit more personal lmao and it's because this is my stupid past. It's the tail end of cuffing season so I'm super sad right now and I am struggling with a rejection that hasn't even happened yet (I literally wrote this to plot out the ways that my Christmas shopping not-date can go wrong) so wish me luck guys. I'm probs gonna be sobbing my heart out this weekend but hey you'll get more content!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter guys. I completely forgot what I wanted to do for the +1 part so sorry if anyone was looking forward to it. I gotta look at my tumblr, but idk what's coming next or when.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that I didn't respond to everyone's comment but honestly I love you all so much. You all have such lovely things to say (and very relevant and most importantly CONSTRUCTIVE criticism) and I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read this stuff and comment. I'm sorry for the delay but life, ya know.
> 
> Anyways, this story is about this creeper that I've been dealing with for the past 4 months. I've literally told him to his face that I'll never like him back and I find him creepy (believe me, I've barely scratched the surface here) and this was just me venting my frustrations. *WARNING* MORE RACIST STUFF BECAUSE 'NICE GUYS' SUCK.

5.

If someone were to ask Marinette where it started, then she’d probably have to say the first day of school.

She had just been minding her own business in one her classes – which one didn’t even matter since she spent more than half of the day with this guy – when a boy wheeled up to talk to her. This in itself, was not unusual or even the problem here. What was the problem, was who it was. This was a boy from Collège Françoise Dupont; just from a different class.

She hadn’t spent any time with him, but during communal lunch, she’d heard a _lot_ of rumours about this guy. He was kind of notorious for making many uncalled-for comments and almost never using the brain-to-mouth filter that they _know_ he has. He’s been fully capable of speaking civilly and semi-intelligently (albeit awkwardly) with teachers but the second he gets talking with his age mates…

Well he immediately started going off about various racially charged issues. He was into politics and economics and would comment about the situation in the Middle East and other countries in a state of upheaval. Now that in itself wouldn’t be an issue – plenty of teens these days get very involved in learning about the political state of other countries – but it was the particular way that he phrased things that was, in a word; worrying.

Nearly on the daily, he would go off about the “Saudis” and how they were “savages” and that if he had the power to just snap his fingers and just make the Middle East in its entirety disappear, he would. This is understandably upsetting. He may not be saying the N-word, but he was just blatantly saying that given the chance he would commit mass genocide motivated entirely out of racial hatred and superiority issues. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a junior Nazi in the making.

Marinette, as a major advocate for human rights and equality (and just sticking it to the man because fuck the system), was understandably enraged. However, there’s an issue here. Before lycée, Marinette has not once spoken a word to Jaques Peltier. That means that she’d only ever heard rumours about Jaques so being a good person, she was planning on giving him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he’d changed or people had exaggerated. For the first month, it seemed like he’d actually made an improvement. He didn’t make any racist comments and seemed to be genuinely helpful if she had a problem in class.

So Marinette kept talking to him.

That’s when everything went downhill.

He just… wouldn’t stop talking to her. Like, he sat about 3-4 seats away from her, but somehow always ended up breathing heavily next to her shoulder like a freaking gargoyle. It was absolutely bizarre and awful. Whenever he’s say anything – be it asking yet another dumbass question or muttering something sarcastic and thinking he’s funny even though the joke ended 3 comments before he tried to continue it – he’d always whip around to look at her like a dog looking for approval.

Marinette had taken to just doing her best to ignore him, but he _was always there._ He’d squat beside her slowly and maintaining eye contact and his breath smelled awful. He’d talk about politics and history and any other subject that she couldn’t ever muster up one shit to give.

He just never stopped, and all of her classmates had noticed. They would whisper question to her about why he was doing this, and she could never answer them. Some had even gone out of their way to try to subtly help her, but it did nothing. One notable moment occurred when the guy sitting in between them had tried to help her.

 

 

 

 

 

 _They_ _were working in one of the computer labs for a final project. They needed to do some research and the teacher was giving them class time to complete that research which was generous but generally unneeded. This generally meant that no one did work and instead just dicked around on the computers. The teachers all knew this happened, but they probably just didn’t want to bother with teaching the ungrateful little snots they were charged with. Marinette can’t say that she blames them, and she was one of the few students who actually_ did _do work in class, so it was no skin off her back. It left her more time at home to complete her other homework._

 _Upon entering the classroom she wasted no time in making a beeline for the back of the classroom, immediately logging into the system and pulling up her research and half-finished paper. She wanted to get the project done as soon as possible. Accounting was annoying at best and they were stuck reading actual year-end reports. Do you have any idea how convoluted those things are? They hide all their terms behind weird names and then just blatantly don’t show others. That’s probably illegal but who gives a shit. Fuck you, Shopify. Where the fuck is your income tax expense for 2017? Was it a benefit? Have you been doing_ that bad _?_

_So Marinette popped in her earbuds and got to work, bopping every now and then to the song playing. She had just finished working through the letter to shareholders (which was one of the biggest loads of bullshit she’d ever seen but such is business) when she sensed it. It didn’t even have anything to do with her miraculous powers, it was just her natural instinct as a girl, that a creepy guy was staring at her._

_She looked out of the corner of her eye, not pausing in her typing and there was Jaques, staring at her with a weird look in his eyes. He was almost glaring at her – which was unsettling. Leaning forward slightly, she whispered to the guy sitting beside her. “Hey, is it just me, or is Jaques staring really creepily?”_

_He glanced over at Jaques and winced. “Yeah,” he whispered back._

_She looked up again and saw that Jaques was gathering his laptop in his arms and was wiggling himself into a position where he could moved along with the wheeled chair he was on. “Oh boy, here he comes.” She groaned. Sure enough, Jaques had begun pushing himself backwards with both his heels and by grabbing at other people’s chairs to continue to propel himself towards the back of the class. He was making his way down the aisle and while it was slow progress because of how close the students chairs were bunched together, he was still pushing his way through._

_Almost imperceptibly, the boy next to her began to move his chair backwards until he took up more than half of the space in the aisle that was between his chair and the chair of the student behind him. Just in time too, because Jaques had finally arrived. Just wonderful._

_He back right into the other boy’s chair and his progress was halted. Marinette was convinced that he would be embarrassed by the obvious thwarting of his plan and like any logical person, would cut his losses and go back to his seat. Nope. Not Jaques. She just assumed that he had some bit of shame – her mistake._

_Instead of going back, he simply turned to the other boy and said “would you mind moving forwards a little bit? I want to talk to Mari.” She stared at him with wide eyes, unable to believe that he actually did that. The boy beside her reluctantly moved up about 2 inches, which was nowhere near enough for Jaques to actually pass by. This however, didn’t stop Jaques, because he just_ forced himself _past the chairs until he hit the back of the room._

_Despite the appalling lack of shame, there was still more problems with this. The guy sitting behind Marinette also happened to have his chair pushed back really far while Marinette’s afforded her just enough room to type comfortably. However, with the added addition of Jaques (and he wasn’t exactly a small guy) meant that her chair was pushed forwards until the table was digging into the skin right below her ribs, making it very uncomfortable to breathe._

_“So what’s your opinion on abortion?” he asked, and then he started talking and it continued to go downhill from there._

 

 

 

 

 

She made a point to thank him afterwards even though in the grand scheme of things it didn’t do much. The sentiment was appreciated.

 

Jaques just had this obnoxious way of speaking that irritated everyone around him. He’d start every question with “sir, I’m _curious_ to know the answer to this question…” or another notable moment when their teacher was asking if anyone had a question about the upcoming test. Jaques asked his question – “curious” and all – and then proceeded to tack on a second questions. Except in the most annoying way possible. He decided to turn to the rest of the class like they were the camera from _The Office USA_ and then _explain_ himself like they didn’t know what he was doing. “You see, you slip in another question when she asked something unrelated and then–”

That was the point when literally everyone wanted to smack him and at least 5 people straight up yelled “Jaques! We get it!” The point is, this guy is the epitome of annoying. Three separate teachers picked on him because he was just _that_ annoying.

Marinette wanted him to _stop._

 _He walks her to her classes._ She’s even told him that she has a boyfriend and he. won’t. stop. It’s unbelievable. She’d tried going to teachers to let them know what was happening, but they were unable to do anything about it other than move his desk in _one_ class. Basically useless, and now Jaques knew something was up.

Finally, she broke and just flat out yelled at him. In public too.

(Chloe was proud.)

 

This time, he succeeded in worming his way into the table. He just blatantly shoved Adrien aside and sat in between her and her partner.

Without even pausing in his movements, Jaques pulled out his books and sort of just made himself at home before interrupting every conversation that was occurring before him. “So Mari, what’s been new with you lately?” he asked loudly, using an unnecessary volume. Marinette really didn’t want to turn to talk to him, but he’d become so annoying that she had to do _something._

“Hello, Jaques,” she smiled tightly. It was guys like this that made her regret even being polite to people and she was a genuine person. She loved talking to people! But… years of fighting humanity gone wrong makes you a little paranoid. It doesn’t matter how nice a person was, all it took was one bad day and then they could be turned into ruthless killers. She was still bubbly, but she was more cautious now.

Making friends was important, but Marinette had her people. She didn’t _want_ anymore even if she could use them. She didn’t _want_ to get attached to anymore people. As cruel and callous as it sounds, they were liabilities. Most of the time, she was able to separate herself from Ladybug, but her personas were much more closely related then Adrien’s and it was something that she struggled a lot with. Adrien struggled too, but in a different way.

“Classes are annoying, but nothing much.” She answered.

Jaques seemed to just blatantly ignore her. “Oh! Did you hear about the latest drama with the United States? The government had another shut down. I heard it was a record!” he crowed, pulling out an apple and biting into it with the enthusiasm of a horse. “Those American. Unbelievable!”

Everyone awkwardly played with their food as they avoided making eye contact with Jaques. Jaques didn’t seem to get the memo that he was unwanted.

“Honestly American are fucking idiots! They’re wrecking the global economy! They seem to think that they’re the only country that matters and that they’re so great and _so_ superior. It’s infuriating!” he began to rant, much to everyone’s displeasure. “Honestly, their economy might be booming now but they’re headed right back towards a depression. The economy _will_ crash and it’ll take the rest of the world with it!”

Chloe sniffed. “Shut _up,_ Jaques. Literally no one cares.” Her voice was filled with venom and disgust. Jaques scowled at her before plastering on a smile and turning back to Marinette. The smile did not reach his eyes and made the heavy set teen look rather intimidating and borderline threatening.

“So what do you think about the current situation is China?” he asked instead of responding to Chloe. “We get so many Chinese immigrants and none of them learn to speak French at all! It’s fucking ridiculous. And they get away with literally everything because they’re ‘foreign.’ Really, they should just stay in their own country. Fucking communists, am I right?”

Everyone froze.

“I’m sorry, what?!” Marinette hissed sharply, Adrien sitting beside her and staring wide eyed like he couldn’t believe that Jaques had just said something like that.

Jaques just looked confused. “I was just commenting on how the Chinese government was handling things…” he trailed off in his explanation, honestly seeming like he had no idea what he’d done to earn the reaction that he did.

For a moment, Marinette just stared at him with one eye twitching violently. Then, she stood up abruptly, towering over a still seated Jaques. “No. You weren’t.” she ground out from between her teeth. Adrien slid back into his seat slightly, warily eyeing Jaques with a critical but still horrified look. “You were spewing racist drivel everywhere just like you always do! I’m sick and tied of you talking about this shit with me like I agree with you! I’m Chinese, you dipshit! I was just being polite to you, but I’m done.” She yelled, getting the attention of all nearby students.

“I’m sick and tied of your racist ass thinking that it’s okay to say these things! Also, you think that I don’t know you have some kind of infatuation with me? Well, I do. You’re always staring. It’s so creepy and I know that I’ve asked you to stop. However, you haven’t left me alone! I have a boyfriend. And even if I didn’t, get this through your head; I. Don’t. Like. You. How many times do I have to tell you I don’t want to date you or even be _near you_ before you understand?!” Marinette huffed angrily, throwing caution to the wind.

She reached down and pulled Adrien up by the collar and dipping him into an intense make out session for all to see. A silence fell over the cafeteria as Marinette released Adrien, helping him out of the dip. “Just so we’re clear, Adrien and I are dating – that means we’re both off-limits. Stop trying.” She stated clearly, addressing the entire cafeteria. She turned to Jaques once more, lowering her voice. “If you could please leave. You weren’t invited and you’re overstayed your curtesy welcome.”

“Yes, Jaques. No one wanted you here.” Chloe smirked.

Marinette shot a look at the blonde. “Chloe!” she hissed.

The diva flipped her hair and plastered on a painfully obvious and fake look of innocence. “What? I was just repeating what you said.”

Marinette pursed her lips, but she didn’t offer up any other protests. Jaques’ mouth shut with an audible click. He stared at her arm wrapped around Adrien possessively for a moment, his face almost dangerously blank. Then, he gathered up his bags and walked away without another word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for staying loyal to this story folks. I hope that you enjoyed it and I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes or whatever other shit I fucked up.   
> If anyone cares to read a rant about how my not-date went it'll be in first comment on this chapter. I got tea sis, but like, I'm not gonna waste your time if you just came here for some outside POV on Marinette.

**Author's Note:**

> So just some fun facts! I have studied French for 13 years and because I didn’t believe in myself enough, I only took the B1 DELF test (however I received a 90.5) so I’ll be attempting the B2 DELF this May. I am Canadian, and as the many inaccuracies in this series will show, I have absolutely no clue how things actually are in Europe. I have SOME knowledge because I needed some context to take the DELF successfully, but it’s probably out of date and irrelevant so here’s a blanket apology for all the stuff I got wrong. Also, I am a high school student, so my knowledge is limited in certain areas of things that I write about (cough*medical anything*cough) but I focused my education on math, science, and business and I have basic first aid knowledge. 
> 
> I try my best to not write about things that are too far out of my realm of knowledge (like Marinette I am half Asian so I get the borderline racist stuff rather frequently so André is based off people I know) but since I’m only 16, it’s inevitable for me to screw up more than I already have. Sorry about that. So yeah, most of what I write I have either done or witnessed with my own two eyes. High school interactions? Yeah I have friends that are that stupid and awkward so get ready for some exciting and embarrassing things because we’ve moved onto the lycée stuff and that’s high school so yass
> 
> Also, I have not seen season 2 and I will never use any content from that area so sorry


End file.
